That Dry British Humor

Along with millions of other people, I finished the sixth installment of Harry Potter recently, although on audiobook rather than on printed page. The forced pacing and addition of delivery style that comes from having a practiced reader brings out certain elements that I might not have noticed if I were blasting through the book at a furious visual pace. There was one particular line that really stood out as being hilariously funny, down in chapter 26 right before Harry and Dumbledore start the thing with the potions:

"Harry did not speak. Was this why he had been invited along? So that he could force-feed Dumbledore a potion that might cause him unendurable pain?"

When reading it visually, the humor is not readily apparent, and will probably be lost by explanation if it didn't already hit you. At first, it seems like this is a bit of internal semi-dialogue, showing you what's going in Harry's mind. But really, this thought is quite non-sequitur; it is obvious that this is not the reason Harry was brought along. (Can you imagine Dumbledore saying "Yes Harry, I am actually a masochist. This is the true reason why I brought you. Now hurt me, quickly!") Not only that, but given the context, there's no reason for Harry to be thinking such a thing; he should be too frightened and stressed to have such idle thoughts. Hearing it delivered, the out-of-place-ness really jumps out and makes it appear that this is the author's statement, made as a joke to the reader, right in the middle of an sombre scene where one would least expect it.

Well, there goes another joke, destroyed by over-analysis.